Ex-allentown Man Gets Life In Barroom Slaying

December 03, 1987|by GAY ELWELL, The Morning Call

Still protesting his innocence, the 32-year-old former Allentown man convicted of first-degree murder for the shooting death of a Bethlehem bar owner was sentenced yesterday to life in prison, plus 12 1/2 to 26 years.

Miguel Antonio Lopez, who killed 64-year-old Frank Geseck while an escapee from the work release and home furlough program at Northampton County Prison, told President Judge Alfred T. Williams Jr., "They've taken my freedom and I'm behind prison bars, but I sleep with a clear conscience. I swear before God I committed no crime. I am innocent."

Geseck was shot four times in the chest and back during a Dec. 20, 1985, robbery at the Washington Hotel, 607 Evans St.

Lopez and a co-defendant, Rafael Velez, were arrested Jan. 3 in Allentown. As Lopez scuffled with an officer, a nine-shot, .22-caliber revolver fell from his clothing. The revolver was the same one used to gun down Geseck. Lopez said it was planted on him by police.

In addition, several witnesses who were in the bar at the time of the shooting identified Lopez and Velez.

Velez, 46, who was convicted of third-degree murder by the same jury that convicted Lopez, was sentenced in September to 17 1/2 to 36 years by Williams. Velez also has maintained his innocence and says he was framed because he is from Puerto Rico.

District Attorney Donald B. Corriere, terming the crime "cold-blooded," asked the judge to impose consecutive sentences for robbery and conspiracy convictions stemming from the crime.

Lopez's court-appointed trial attorney, Renald Baratta, pointed to what Lopez said were inaccuracies in the pre-sentence report prepared by the county probation office. Baratta said that contrary to the report, his client told him his father was not killed in New York City and his mother is still alive.

However, when Williams questioned Lopez about the criminal incidents listed in the report, including a 1982 Lehigh County conviction on receiving stolen property and escape, and three 1984 Northampton County burglary charges, Lopez agreed that information was accurate.

Williams agreed with Corriere's characterization of the crime as cold- blooded, noting that it was not a mere holdup but that Lopez and his conspirator went in and sat at the bar for 15 to 20 minutes, drinking beer, before Lopez pulled the trigger, killing Geseck, and stole money from the bar.

The judge also dismissed Lopez's protest that the jury's verdict was "impossible." The verdict was fully justified by the evidence presented at trial, including eyewitness testimony, Williams said.

The jury decided not to impose the death sentence on Lopez, but the judge said, "it is a crime that does not permit much mercy in terms of this sentence."

He told Lopez that since the average length of a life sentence served in Pennsylvania prisons is 18 to 19 years, he was imposing the additional consecutive sentences because "the facts indicate you should not be back on the street."

He made the life sentence consecutive to the 2 1/2 - to five-year term given Lopez in Lehigh County for charges stemming from the January 1986 arrest. He made a 10- to 20-year sentence for robbery consecutive to the life sentence, and a sentence of 2 1/2 to six years for conspiracy consecutive to that.

Lopez asked that he not be returned to Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia, where he has been held for some time since the trial. Baratta said that Lopez has had to fight for his life at least six times during his stay there.

Williams, who ordered Lopez transported to the diagnostic center at Graterford state prison for eventual placement in the state prison system, said he wouldn't be sent back to Holmesburg.

At the conclusion of sentencing, Lopez continued to protest his innocence and complained about Baratta's representation. Williams said he will appoint new counsel for him.